


A Matter of National Security

by katikat



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Family, Friendship, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Missing Scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-08
Updated: 2018-05-08
Packaged: 2019-05-03 23:22:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,710
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14579862
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katikat/pseuds/katikat
Summary: Matty’s positive that Oversight would not risk Mac’s life for anything less than national security. (Unbeta'd)





	A Matter of National Security

**Author's Note:**

> A MacGyver ficlet, set in ep 209. I always thought it weird that one moment, they were on the East Coast, then suddenly, back in LA. So, how did Mac get from a hospital in NY back home so quickly? An unexplained time jump? Or…

Closing her eyes for a second, Matty takes a deep breath to steel herself, then knocking firmly on the door of Oversight’s office, she waits to be invited in. She’s so not looking forward to this conversation.  _At all._

When she enters, the man, Oversight,  _James MacGyver_ himself, is sitting behind his desk, still looking more like a field agent who just happened to drop by rather than the head of a clandestine organization as powerful as the Phoenix Foundation.

Now, he glances up from the report he’s going through to acknowledge her presence, before going back to reading. “Yes, Director Webber?” he asks absentmindedly.

Matty closes the door and walks up to his desk. “We have a situation, sir,” she informs him in a quiet, steady voice.

“Yes?” he responds, still focused on the papers in his hands. “Is it about the VX nerve gas your team was sent to retrieve? Did they get it?”

Another deep breath. “Yes, sir. We got the gas and we also managed to capture several freelance mercs working for Annisa Chandra, the Indonesian extremist leader.”

James looks up again. “That’s great, director. Congratulations,” he says. Then he pauses, seeing that she’s obviously not done. “So, what’s the situation you mentioned?”

“Sir, during the retrieval, it came to an altercation with the terrorists. The canister with the nerve gas was damaged and it came to a spill,” Matty finishes on a low note.

James finally sets his papers aside, giving her his undivided attention. “ Any casualties? Were we able to contain the leak?”

Wincing inwardly, Matty responds, “The spill was contained quite quickly. And there was only one casualty, sir.  _Your son_.”

For a moment, James simply stares at her, as if he didn’t actually hear what she just told him. Then he clears his throat, laying his hands flat on his desk, and says haltingly, “I see. How bad is it?”

Matty sighs. “From what I understand, the canister was nicked by a bullet in a shootout with the mercs. When Mac realized what happened, he locked himself in a room with it to contain the leak as much as possible. He managed to build a vent hood and he safely disposed of the nerve gas but… “ She swallows hard. “I’m afraid he himself got the full blast, sir.”

James nods, looking down for a second. “Where is he now?”

“Dalton and Cage took him to a hospital in New York and–”

Frowning, James looks up. His moment of weakness from a minute ago is gone. “That’s out of the question, Director Webber. If news about the lost canister got out, the consequences would be inconceivable. Sent our medical team to New York, now, and have them transfer Angus back to LA immediately. This mustn’t get out, at all cost.”

She stares at him for a second. “Sir, as much as I understand your concern, your son needs medical attention, urgently.”

He reacts with a glare. “I’m  _aware_ of that,  _director_. Like you said, Angus is  _my son_. But need I remind you that this poses a threat to national security? The fact that we let something as dangerous as the VX nerve gas slip through our fingers would cause an uproar.

“Besides,” he adds, “you’re right in that Angus needs medical attention. The  _best_ medical attention. And who better render it than our people who have hands-on experience with this type of a situation? I’m certain there’re excellent doctors in New York, too, but since we can’t exactly provide them with details about what happened, that being a matter of national security, they can’t do much for him over there, can they?”

Matty knows that James is right, that they have obligations beyond Mac’s life but a part of her wants to say to hell with national security, wants to give the doctors in New York all the necessary information for them to make Mac better.

“From what I understand, we have an eighteen hour window to save my son’s life,” James continues firmly. “We’re losing valuable time here. You have your orders, director.  _Follow_ them!”

Straightening up, Matty tightens her jaw. “Yes, sir,” she replies and leaves the room. She knows she won’t change James MacGyver’s mind and she’s not about to waste time arguing. It’s time that Mac doesn’t have.

* * *

Jack watches the commotion in Mac’s hospital room with confusion and rising anxiety. Phoenix’s medical team arrived only minutes ago and immediately took over, much to Mac’s doctor’s fury. And now it looks like they’re packing Mac up to move him? What the hell is going on here?

When he tries to talk to their people, they brush him off, telling him to call Director Webber. And so Jack does exactly that.

“Oversight ordered Mac moved back to LA for treatment, Jack,” Matty tells him over the phone.

“What?  _Why?_ Matty, he needs it now, right now!” Jack protests as he watches Mac’s doctor argue with the Phoenix team, waving his hands and pointing firmly at Mac who’s lying in the hospital bed with a bandaged leg and several IVs attached to him - IVs that their team’s now replacing, one bag of clear fluid exchanged for another.

“I know that, Jack,” Matty responds, trying to calm him down, “but since it’s a matter of national security, what Mac got poisoned with, there’s very little they can actually do for him there. Our team has everything necessary with them to start Mac’s treatment now and continue it in-flight. We can offer Mac a much better care over here, at the HQ.”

Jack pauses because he can see Mac seizing again, his face pale and sweaty, a mask of pain. Jack wants to rip someone a new one, preferably the doctors who should stop arguing and actually  _do_ something to  _help_ their patient!

“Are you sure about that, Matty?” Jack asks, his free hand clenched into a fist. “Are you sure they’ll be able to help him better at home? Are you sure that this isn’t some-some  _dumb power play_ on Oversight’s part? That they aren’t just trying to cover their ass, Mac be  _damned_?”

There’s a pause and when Matty replies, her voice is softer but no less firm. “I’m  _positive_ that Oversight would  _not_  risk Mac’s life for anything less than national security, Jack.”

Which isn’t the answer that Jack wanted to hear but he’s known Matty long enough to realize that this is the best one he’ll get. Damn all the higher-uppers and their stupid politicking!

“Alright, fine! Then I need to go and kick some people’s asses to get it done,” Jack replies and without waiting for Matty’s response, he hangs up.

Following that, Jack steps into Mac’s room and snaps, “Hey!” And when both Mac’s attending physician and the leader of the Phoenix team turn to him, he points his finger first at the former, then at the latter. “ _You_ , we’re taking the kid and you can’t do zip about it. If you have a problem with that, talk to my boss. And  _you_ , if you insist on taking Mac out of here, then fucking  _do it_. Let’s go!”

Then Jack pushes past them, walking up to Mac’s bed. He can see that the seizure subsided but it left Mac weak and trembling. Jack leans over him and squeezes his hand. “Hey, how are you feeling?” he whispers.

Mac licks his lips and gives Jack a wan smile. “Tired,” he croaks. “And everything hurts. What’s-what’s going on?” he asks in worry then, seeing the hospital people stomp out in fury and the team with the Phoenix Foundation badges on their coats swarm closer.

“Easy,” Jack whispers, smoothing down Mac’s tousled hair. “Oversight sent our own people over, they’ll be taking you home, to LA, for treatment. I bet they get brownie points for every time you pass through their wing, kid,” he jokes, even though he doesn’t find it funny at all.

But Mac’s brain apparently never stops working, not even pickled with nerve gas, because he responds softly, closing his eyes, “Oh, they really don’t want news about the lost canister to get out, do they?”

Jack winces a little. But he still tries to keep up the good mood. “Hey, look at it from the bright side. At least you’ll get to recuperate in a familiar place.”

Now Mac snorts, and without opening his eyes, he mumbles, “Sure. One more stay at Phoenix Medical and I win a prize…”

And then Jack’s pushed aside and Mac’s moved deftly to a gurney, IVs and all, and hustled out of the room, Jack and Cage, whom he gathers from the waiting room, quickly following. Because there’s no way Jack won’t be on that plane with Mac. Just no way.

* * *

James doesn’t visit his son. He wants to, he wants to be there as much as he wanted to be there when Angus was shot and almost died at Lake Como. But he can’t. Not if he doesn’t want to risk his long game falling apart. And he’s spent too many years setting up the board to just flip it now.

So he watches from afar, through a surveillance camera set up in Angus’ room downstairs, in the medical wing. He sees Dalton come and go, then the rest of the team, too, with Cage lingering behind.

James sits there, in his office, as patient as ever, watching his son undergo the treatment necessary for saving his life. The treatment he should’ve received back in New York already, the father in him insists. But the Oversight firmly reasserts himself. No, he’s been bending the rules for Angus enough as it is. Still, to watch his child seize in his hospital bed, to see him writhe in pain… it’s agony.

In the end, he can’t stay away, after all. After hours, once everyone but the skeleton crew went home, James sneaks into Phoenix Medical, into his son’s room, and just for a moment he watches Angus sleep, listens to him breathe. And he tries his damnedest to convince himself that all the lies, all the subterfuge, that it’s all worth it.

Somehow, as he stands there, by his son’s hospital bed, James is not so sure about it anymore.


End file.
